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Common Sense Rainbow is a site dedicated to debunking anti LGBT+ arguments as well as providing educational information on LGBT+ topics. We have cataloged many hateful arguments and myths and refuted them using logic and research. We also write articles on LGBT+ topics and link to useful LGBT+ resources. This website is good for anyone who wants to educate themselves, anyone who wants to better fight bigots, people on the fence about supporting the LGBT+ movement, or LGBT+ people who just want to read. Please share this site to maximize its impact.


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Featured Stuff

LGBT+ Case Watch: Defending Life-Saving Health Care In Alabama

The Roadblock To Banning Conversion Therapy In The US

Congress Needs To Pass The Respect For Marriage Act

A factsheet on LGBT+ topics in schools

Can Conversion "Therapy" Change Sexual Orientation: The Data Says Probably Not

Why transition works


Featured Resources

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Parented Families A Literature Review prepared for The Australian Psychological Society

A study that reviewed the literature around same-sex parenting found no negative affect on children


What does the scholarly research say about the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being?

A meta analysis of 55 studies on gender transition found that gender transition improves the mental health of transgender people. 51 of the 55 studies shows positive results while 4 of the 55 studies were inconclusive.


Puberty Blockers: A Review of GnRH Analogues in Transgender Youth

A review of research on puberty blockers for transgender youth. It finds they are helpful with minor risks.


Arguments debunked

Homosexuality is unnatural
Homosexuality encourages bad acts
Same-sex marriage is not traditional
Homosexuality is disgusting
Homosexuality is a mental disorder
Being transgender/non binary is a new trend
Gay people don't reproduce
Genesis 1:27 says there are only 2 genders
Sex and gender are the same thing
Giving bathroom rights to transgender people puts cisgender women in danger
LGBT+ education sexualizes students
LGBT+ education brainwashes students
Transition hurts people
Transgender people don't exist
There are only 2 genders
Biological sex matters more than gender
Why can't I be a attack helicopter
Why can't I be 60
LGBT+ people just want attention
Same-sex marriage redefine marriage
Kids are too young to know they are LGB+
There is a "gay agenda"
Same-sex marriage harms children
Inclusive language erases women
Rapid onset gender dysphoria
Using they/them is ungrammatical
There are too many labels
Lots of people de-transition
Gay people don't exist
People choose their sexuality
Leviticus 18:22 bans homosexuality
Being LGBT+ is against god's plan
Genesis 19 says homosexuality is a sin
Deuteronomy 22:5 ban transgender people from wearing gender affirming clothes
Deuteronomy 23:1 bans gender affirming surgery
Transgender people perpetuate gender stereotyping
Biological sex is completely unchangeable
Sex is only your only your chromosomes
People are defined by their AGAB
Romans 1:27 says homosexuality is unnatural
1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10 bans homosexuality
LGBT+ people get "special treatment"
TERF is a slur
Women/gay people become transgender to escape sexism/homophobia
Anti discrimination laws attack religious freedom
Transgender people choose to be trans
Same-sex marriage attacks religious freedom
Asexuality does not exist / is not valid
Kids are too young to know they are transgender
Marriage is a holy christian union
Bisexual people are confused
Transgender people have autogynephilia
Pronouns refer to biology
Transgender people hurt the military
There are more important problems in the world to work on than LGBT+ rights
Kids are rushed into transition
Gay people molest child more than others
Conversion therapy works and/or does not harm people
Schools should out LGBT+ students in the name of parental rights
Transgender people should be barred from changing their legal gender
Same-sex people can't be married under the Bible
Gender transition subverts reality
Same-sex intimacy is not allowed under the Bible because it is not procreation
Transgender athletes and students should be banned from sports


Homosexuality is unnatural

1. Saying homosexuality is unnatural is simply not true. It has been documented in over 450 species of mammals worldwide and may come with certain evolutionary advantages.
2. Even if homosexuality was unnatural this does not tell anything about it being bad. Many things people consider to be unnatural are good. For example modern medicine, housing, and computers. Also, many things people treat as natural are bad like getting killed by an animal, disease, and natural disasters.
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https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/do-animals-exhibit-homosexuality
https://books.google.com.ua/books?id=tmFJ1LhbVWcC
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Homosexuality encourages bad things

1. People say that accepting/being gay will lead to the acceptance/doing of other stuff like zoophilia or pedophilia. This is a slippery slope argument, just because people do one thing does not mean people will start doing another thing.
2. The vast majority of LGBT+ people don't support pedophilia or zoophilia.
3. Why can't this argument be used against heterosexuality, the only difference is the gender you are attracted to. One might say that heterosexuality is natural while being gay is not, but this argument is flawed.
4. Research shows gay people don't molest children at higher rates than others.
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https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2011/10-anti-gay-myths-debunked
https://lgbpsychology.org/html/facts_molestation.html
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Same-sex marriage is not traditional

1. This argument implies that the traditional definition of marriage (between a man and a woman) is inherently better. Just because something is old and has been done for a long time does not mean it's better. For example, slavery is an old "tradition" in many old civilizations but it's not good. The definition where gay people can get married is better because it gives them equal rights and allows them to participate in society more freely.
2. Same-sex relationships did happen in many parts of the world throughout history.
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https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/homosexuality/
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Homosexuality is disgusting

1. Just because a person thinks something is disgusting does not mean it's bad. People think some foods are disgusting but that does not mean the foods are bad for you or that they should be wiped from the face of the earth.
2. The only difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality is the gender someone likes. There is nothing to be disgusted about.
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Homosexuality is a mental disorder

1. First of all, the definition of a mental disorder states that it must cause harm to a person or impair their function. Homosexuality does not do this, gay people live their life normally with the only difference being who they are attracted to.
2. Homosexuality is not in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR), it was removed in the DSM-3-R in 1973.
3. Today, major medical groups don't consider homosexuality to be a disorder. For example, the American Psychological Association applauded the decision to depathologize homosexuality and called for the ending of discrimination against gay people.
4. Even if homosexuality was a mental disorder why should people deny gay people rights? It would still be discrimination.
5. If being gay was considered a mental disorder, why would this matter? A mental disorder is just a label and being gay does not reduce people's ability to function.
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https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mental+disorder
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695779/
https://www.apa.org/about/policy/discrimination
https://www.hrc.org/resources/policy-and-position-statements-on-conversion-therapy
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Being transgender/non binary is a new trend

1. Some people like to say that being transgender or nonbinary is just a recent trend. This is wrong and transgender and nonbinary people have been found throughout history.
2. While it is true more people identify as transgender/nonbinary now then before, much of this is because of the LGBT+ movement helping people find out about their idenities or be more comfortable coming out. 3. You could call it a "trend" it's better than the trend of being stuck with gender dysphoria and having nothing to do about it.
4. Rapid onset gender dysphoria is baseless.
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-historians-are-documenting-lives-of-transgender-people
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/content/two-spirits_map-html/
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Transgender - Non Binary - Non Religious

Gay people don't reproduce

1. Some people say this is a negative but it might be a plus. More babies contribute to overpopulation.
2. Same-sex couples often adopt children, and adoption is considered good. Across the US alone, there are more than 113,000 children up for adoption. Same-sex parents help give these children a home, and same-sex couples adopting does not harm children.
3. Why is this a problem in the first place? Life and relationships are much more than just reproducing.
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https://www.davethomasfoundation.org/about-us/faq/
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Genesis 1:27 says there are only 2 genders

1. There are many ways this can be approached. First, god makes everything on a spectrum. When god made day and night, he also made morning and evening. When god made the land and sea, he also made beaches. So why can't god have made things in the middle?
2. Jumping off the last point, intersex people exist. Showing god did make people in-between male and female they are even affirmed in Matthew 19:12.
3. This verse can be viewed as symbolism for the creation of humanity and not a gender binary.
4. This verse refers to biological sex, not gender identity or social gender which are different things.
5. God did not list everything he created, so other stuff like nonbinary and intersex people exists but were just not listed.
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http://www.bibleandhomosexuality.org/what-does-the-bible-say-about-transgender-people/
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Non Binary - Religious

Sex and gender are the same thing

1. Biological sex is the physical sex characteristics someone has while gender is more complex involving social and psychological factors. For more discussion see this.
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https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/difference-between-sex-and-gender/
https://www.healthline.com/health/sex-vs-gender/
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Transgender - Non Religious

Giving bathroom rights to transgender people puts cisgender women in danger

1. Bans on transgender people from using the correct bathroom are misguided, for starters, these bans don't protect cisgender women. If someone wanted to sexually assault women in a bathroom, be it a transgender woman or a cisgender man dressed as a woman, a bathroom ban would not deter them. Sexual assault is already illegal with harsh penalties. So if someone tries to sexually assault people regardless of the punishments, the much smaller penalties imposed by a bathroom ban would do nothing to stop them. Research indicates that policies that ban transgender bathroom discrimination do not affect the number of sexual assaults.
2. While bathroom bans do nothing to help cisgender women, they do serious harm to transgender people. Implementing bathroom bans would put transgender people in an unwinnable situation. They could use the bathroom matching their assigned sex at birth, which would open them up to sexual assault and harassment. A study found schools with discriminatory bathroom policies had to increase in sexual assaults for transgender youth. They could use the bathroom matching their gender identity, which would put them at risk of legal trouble. Finally, they could detransition in public which would lead to increased gender dysphoria, worse mental health and damage their freedom of expression.
3. Research links bathroom bans to worse mental health for transgender people. One study found that transgender youth who faced bathroom discrimination were more likely to consider suicide and have worse mental health. Research also suggests that transgender-inclusive environments which would include bathroom accommodations lead to better mental health for transgender people.
4. Many experts and groups oppose bathroom bans. An open letter signed by many sexual assault prevention organizations opposed bathroom bans. Many medical groups like the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics also oppose bathroom restrictions.
5. If bathroom bans were implemented, they would be very hard to enforce. Using IDs would be impractical and going off looks would fail to catch many people. Enforcing bathroom bans would also waste useful police resources that would have been better spent fighting real sexual predators.
6. Another issue with enforcing bathroom bans and with transgender bathroom discrimination in general is that it would affect cisgender people. Because looks would be the only practical way to enforce bathroom bans, cisgender women who do not look feminine enough or cisgender men who do not look masculine enough would be kicked from bathrooms and discriminated against. This has happened before, there are real cases of cisgender women be harassed for using the women's bathroom after being mistaken for being transgender women. This type of side effect of bathroom bans would also hurt freedom of expression.
7. Transgender people have had access to bathrooms for years with little issue. Even though isolated cases of transgender people assaulting people in bathrooms exist, this is not an excuse to pass bathroom bans because the actions of one person don't represent an entire group.
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https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-018-0335-z
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/143/6/e20182902/76816/School-Restroom-and-Locker-Room-Restrictions-and
https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(20)30653-4/fulltext
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01612840.2021.1961330
https://www.4vawa.org/ntf-action-alerts-and-news/2018/4/12/national-consensus-statement-of-anti-sexual-assault-and-domestic-violence-organizations-in-support-of-full-and-equal-access-for-the-transgender-community
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/population-care/exclusionary-bathroom-policies-harm-transgender-students
https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/19021/AAP-continues-to-support-care-of-transgender
https://transequality.org/what-experts-say
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Transgender - Non Religious

LGBT+ education sexualizes students

1. LGBT+ education does not need to talk directly about sex. It mainly tells kids that LGBT+ people exist and that's ok. You don't need to talk about sex to tell students that 2 people of the same gender can be in a relationship.
2. This argument can this argument be used against straight relationships. People teach kids about these relationships from a young age directly and indirectly without talking about sex.
3. Acceptance of LGBT+ people in school and in general is positive for the mental health of LGBT+ youth. Research has shown that LGBT+-accepting schools are linked with less bullying, more safety, better grades and lower suicide attempt rates for LGBT+ students.
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https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/
https://www.glsen.org/research/2021-national-school-climate-survey
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General - Non Religious

LGBT+ education brainwashes students

1. Some people say that LGBT+ education brainwashes kids into becoming LGBT+. LGBT+ education mainly tells kids that LGBT+ people exist and that's ok. It's not forcing kids to become LGBT+. You can't choose to be gay or trans (for trans you choice to transition but the cause for the transition was not a choice).
2. There is no motivation for schools to do this.
3. Education will lead to an increase of people who are out but this is because education helps kids find who they are. The kids were LGBT+ in the first place they just found who they were.
4. Acceptence of LGBT+ people in school and in general is positive for the mental health of LGBT+ kids. It also lowered suicide rates.
5. Sexual fluidity caused by enviromental factors is often small (1 point on the Kinsey scale) not someone being turned gay. This only matters if education counts as a factor which it's probably not.
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https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1529100616637616
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General - Non Religious

Transition hurts people

See this page here for a more in depth look at this argument

1. Transition has been shown to better people's mental health in many studies. One meta-analysis found that, out of 55 studies, 51 concluded transition was effective, the other 4 showed inconclusive or mixed results but not negative.
2. Regret and detransition rates are low for transition, studies on average find that 97% of transgender people don't regret their transition.
Detransition is often not even caused by someone not being transgender, it's often caused by transphobia or social pressure.
3. While some studies claim to show transition is ineffective these studies are in the minority and often have flaws.
4. Many medical organizations support the fact that transition works.
5. While there are side effects, most experts agree that the benefits outway the harms. People are also closely monitored during treatment so treatment it can be altered or stopped if side effects present problems. Also, we don't ban anti-depressants because they can sometimes present side effects.
6. Before transitioning, people are screened by experts and will have time to make an informed decision.
7. The same medicine used in transition is used in other types of treatment with little controversy.
8. One claim sometimes made is that because money can be a motive behind gender-affiriming care it's inherently bad. However this claim is flawed, money does not decide whether a treatment is good or bad because good treatments often cost money.
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https://www.gendergp.com/detransition-facts/
https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-well-being-of-transgender-people/
http://genderanalysis.net/2015/09/paul-mchugh-is-wrong-transitioning-is-effective-gender-analysis-10/
https://csrainbow.neocities.org/resources/medical.html
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Transgender - Non Religious

Transgender people don't exist

1. The notion that gender is purely biological and innate is problematic in many ways. For staters biology is not innate, many parts of biology like genital structure and secondary sex characteristics can be changed.
2. Another problem is that purely using biology to define gender is not useful, in many real world situations, biology takes a back seat to other characteristics.
3. Defining gender purely using biology also does not give credit to other characteristics associated with gender like expression and psychology.
4. Now that we have shown that using only biology is not a good way of looking at gender in most contexts, we can talk about transgender people. Transgender people are able to change many useful and important characteristics associated with gender. If someone identifies as a gender, presents as a gender, medically transitions to that gender and everyone knows them as that gender then they might as well be that gender.
5. One particularly important characteristic is gender identity. Respecting gender identity is a good idea because of mental health considerations and because it's very real to people.
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Transgender - Non Religious

There are only 2 genders

1. People have gender identities that are nonbinary and can people express themselves in neutral way. Gender is not determined by biological sex so the only way forward is accepting non binary people.
2. Even if you say gender is caused by biological sex nonbinary people can still exist. Through surgery and HRT people can change important parts of their sex. For stuff like chromosomes see this.
3. Gender is a social construct making it much more nebulous than sex.
4. Sex is on a spectrum, some people can be more masculine than others and some people have a mix of sex characteristics. If sex is on a spectrum then gender could be a spectrum too.
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Non Binary - Non Religious

Biological sex matters more than gender

1. A lot of TERFs say biological sex is more important than gender and a lot of their arguments hinge on this. This is wrong. Biological sex is almost never used in day-to-day life and does not determine how people treat you.
2. While biological sex might be important in a relationship or the doctor's office these are edge cases and still do not make biological sex more important than gender in day-to-day life.
3. Some TERFs say that gender being a social construct makes it unimportant. This is wrong many social constructs are important for example money is a social construct and people don't go around burning it.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Why can't I be a attack helicopter

1. This one is just silly, anyone seriously using this is a clown. A helicopter is a nonhuman object. Gender is something completely different. You can change your gender but you can't become a nonhuman object.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Why can't I be 60

1. This one is like the attack helicopter one but a bit more sensible though it's still wrong. Being 60 is chronological and can't be changed. Gender is not chronologic but depends on other factorss. Transgender people can't change what they were assigned as at birth just like how people can't change their chronological age.
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Transgender - Non Religious

LGBT+ people just want attention

1. Being LGBT+ has a very personal element. Coming out or talking about someone is just sharing information about themselves. Most people are not screaming about it.
2. LGBT+ people do want better representation and more rights but they are not asking for too much. Most humans want human rights and just because there is representation in the media does not mean the media is screaming about it every second.
3. Most people would not scream about being LGBT+ just for attention. This would make them much more open to hate.
4. There is just something uncomfortable about being in the closet for a lot of LGBT+ people 5. Transgender people often need to come out to make a transition.
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General - Non Religious

Same-sex marriage redefine marriage

1. It does redefine marriage, but this is not inherently bad. An opposite-sex marriage won't be affected by the same-sex marriage existing. The people being affected are the people in a same-sex marriage who are definitely happier.
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General - Non Religious

Kids are too young to know they are LGB+

1. Kids can know their sexuality from a young age. This can be in the form of childhood crushes which can manifest at a young age or sexual attraction (or lack of) during puberty.
2. A person knows themselves the best and some experience likely caused a kid to find who they are. By coming out this likely shows they have put some thought into their orientation.
3. No one tells kids that they are too young to be straight.
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https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/sexual-orientation.html
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Homosexuality - General - Non Religious

There is a "gay agenda"

1. The "gay agenda" is a derogatory word used to attack the LGBT+ rights movement. It says people are pushing for LGBT+ rights. This is true. Of course, humans what human rights. Check the rest of this website for why LGBT+ people deserve rights. "Gay agenda" is just a loaded/snarl word used to attack people who are fighting LGBT+ rights without coming up with real arguments.
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General - Non Religious

Same-sex marriage harms children

We have written a longer article on this. Click here for more information on this topic.

1. There is no evidence that says same-sex marriage harms children. Some studies even find it's beneficial for kids.
2. Some people say that same-sex marriage is harmful because of the disconnect between the child and parent but if this is true then why can't this argument be used against opposite-sex families that adopt children? Adopting children is generally considered good so aren't same-sex parents doing Service to this world?
3. A real problem is that kids of same-sex parents might be attacked because of their parents being gay. The solution to this is to fight homophobia.
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https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/10/19/effect-of-children-with-same-sex-marriage-parents/
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/03/gay-marriage-doesn-t-harm-children-but-the-facts-don-t-seem-to-matter.html
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Inclusive language erases women

1. Inclusive language does not erase women. For example, saying a pregnant person does still includes women (women are people) but it also includes nonbinary people and transgender men. More inclusion is better so we should use inclusive language.
2. Transgender and nonbinary people need more representation. They are more oppressed than the average woman and more representation would defiantly be helpful.
3. Inclusive language is also helpful to cisgender people, saying pregnant person shows that not all women can get pregnant much more directly. 4. We are not advocating for the destruction of free speech. We just think inclusive language is better than gendered language and that it should be used more in appropriate settings. Inclusive language is also mainly used when addressing large amounts of people and is not used for cisgender people on an individual basis.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Rapid onset gender dysphoria

1. Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is a disputed diagnosis and theory that gender dysphoria and being transgender is a social contagion that spreads through peer influence. It's often used by people to invalidate transgender identity or explain the rise in transgender identification. Much of the fuss around ROGD arose because of a study popularized that term and claimed to have observed it. The study surveyed parents of transgender kids and concluded based on responses that the kids had ROGD. However, this study has some major flaws.
2. First of all, the study surveyed parents, not their kids. Because transgender kids are often quiet about their identities, parents are not the best source of information. This is especially true for the rapid onset part of ROGD the study claimed to observe. Because people are often silent about their identities until coming out, it might only seem like rapid onset to someone watching.
3. All of this is made worse by the fact the source of data was biased. The parents in the study were recruited from anti-transgender websites like transgender trend and 4thwavenow. This would make an unreliable source of data about transgender kids even more unreliable. While some may claim that most of the parents were actually supportive of their child because 88.2% said they supported transgender rights, this assertion has some issues. First, many might have interpreted the question to mean general protections like nondiscrimination laws and not more nuanced things like whether they accepted their child. Second and more damming, 76.5% of parents thought their child was incorrect in identifying as transgender.
4. The study also has other issues. For example, it made no mention of best-practice methods for conducting surveys and gave parents a simplified and un-verified version of the DSM-5 to "diagnose" their kids with gender dysphoria.
5. The study's conclusions and many claims about ROGD in general also seem flawed. It was suggested that adolescents consuming transgender-related social media make them transgender, but it could easily be the opposite. If someone found out they were transgender or were questioning their gender identity, they would probably seek advice or information online. This reasoning also addresses the claim that transgender friends can make someone transgender. Because if someone is transgender they might seek out friends who have that thing in common, or if someone has a transgender friend, they might be more comfortable coming out.
6. Some research has found issues with the notion of ROGD. One study was not able to replicate some of ROGD's predictions concluding, "We did not find support within a clinical population for a new etiologic phenomenon of rapid onset gender dysphoria during adolescence."
7. Another issue with ROGD is that it frames people finding out they are transgender during or after puberty with little signs before puberty as novel and evidence of social contagion. However, this reasoning is flawed because this phenomenon is not novel and has been observed before all the fuss about social contagion. It is also not good evidence in favor of social contagion because puberty often causes people to discover their gender identity or worsens dysphoria.
8. Many transgender people also find out about their identity before puberty which is not predicted by ROGD. One study found that most transgender adults first began experiencing gender dysphoria between ages 3 and 7.
10. It's hard to think that social factors can push someone to identify as transgender given all the hardship transgender people have to go through and the magnitude of the decision.
11. Many medical organizations have opposed the use of ROGD citing the lack of medical evidence.
12. All of this is not to say ROGD does not exist in any way whatsoever, there is just no good evidence for ROGD individuals making up a large portion of the transgender population like some claim. Even if ROGD was real and significant, it would not change too much. Arguments for transgender rights and protections are not hurt by the way someone becomes transgender. Things that might need to be changed would be the caution taken by people transitioning and the way people are educated about transgender issues.
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202330
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-1453-2
https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(21)01085-4/fulltext
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0038026120934693
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8766261/
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria
https://www.caaps.co/rogd-statement
https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2018/9_Sept/WPATH%20Position%20on%20Rapid-Onset%20Gender%20Dysphoria_9-4-2018.pdf
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Transgender - Non Religious

Using they/them is ungrammatical

1. They/them have been used in a singular way for hundreds of years.
2. Basically all dictionaries regard they/them as both plural and singular.
3. Words can have more than one definition.
4. People use they/them in everyday life to refer to people whose gender is unknown.
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https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/singular-nonbinary-they
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/they
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Non Binary - Non Religious

Their are too many labels

1. Gender and sexuality are on a spectrum so lots of labels are required to label parts of the spectrum.
2. Micro-labels can help people find out about themselves better.
3. If you don't like all the labels then don't use them for yourself.
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General - Non Religious

Lots of people de-transition

1. The regret after transitioning is very low. For gender-affirming surgeries the regret rate is about 1%.
2. Many regrets after transitioning will come from transphobia. The best solution is to fight transphobia.
3. See this section for more information.
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https://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/2021/03000/regret_after_gender_affirmation_surgery__a.22.aspx
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Transgender - Non Religious

Gay people don't exist

1. This is simply wrong. A vast amount of research has shown the existence of gay people.
2. Some people say gay people have a repressed attraction to the opposite sex this is also wrong and research backs this up.
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https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-kinsey-scale-5199426
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

People choose their sexuality

1. This is wrong. Sexuality is determined by a mix of factors and is not a choice. Many of these factors are biological. A genome-wide association study was run by tens of thousands of people and a large number of genes were associated with homosexuality. Twin studies have also been run showing genetic correlation.
2. Sexuality having some biological roots does not mean sexuality can't be fluid it just means people's "base" sexualities are set. For example, many people who identify as straight can still have some amount of same-sex attraction from time to time but they don't stop being heterosexual at their core. This is all different from sexuality being a choice, I don't choose the fluidity.
3. Even if sexuality was a choice why would that matter, it's no one's business.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7082777
https://geneticsexbehavior.info
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Homosexuality - Non Religious

Leviticus 18:22 bans homosexuality

1. As this passage is a mosaic law it does not apply to Christians. See sources for more info.
2. If you accept this passage then you must accept similar passages like the one that bans the eating of shrimp (Leviticus 11:9-12) and a whole lot more.
3. Even if we do accept this passage it only outlaws gay sex not same-sex relationships.
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https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/sites/157802/themes/2147524360/downloads/Rz7UGT8pQRO0Nr0znfII_Unclobber_One_Page_Cheat_Sheets_v5_March_21_.pdf
http://godhatesshrimp.com/about.php
https://www.hrc.org/resources/what-does-the-bible-say-about-homosexuality
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Homosexuality - Religious

Being LGBT+ is against god's plan

1. People don't choose being LGBT+ people are born LGBT+ (sexuality - gender). If god did not like LGBT+ he would not have given anyone those traits.
2. A loving God would not advocate for things that caused bad outcomes. Much of the religious persecution of LGBT+ people has caused bad outcomes meaning a loving God would not want that.
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https://reformationproject.org/the-need/
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General - Religious

Genesis 19 says homosexuality is a sin

1. The chapter is not about homosexuality. It's about rape and failing to show hospitality. The passage Genesis 19:5 says "They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."" This is clearly about rape and not about consenting relationships.
2. The whole passage is meant to talk about showing hospitality to visitors.
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https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/sites/157802/themes/2147524360/downloads /Rz7UGT8pQRO0Nr0znfII_Unclobber_One_Page_Cheat_Sheets_v5_March_21_.pdf
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Homosexuality - Religious

Deuteronomy 22:5 ban transgender people from wearing gender affirming clothes

1. Masculine and feminine clothing has a loose definition. It varies from culture to culture and over time. Masculine and feminine clothing can be subjective too and views about it can vary from person to person.
2. This passage does not necessarily talk about biological sex it could be talking about gender identity too. After all biological sex does not souly determine gender.
3. This passage would probably not apply if it caused damage and not wearing gender-affirming clothing can cause damage to lots of transgender people because of dysphoria.
4. Some have argued that this passage refered to armor, not clothing
5. Many passages are unethical or don't make sense by today's standards.
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https://www.genderspectrum.org/articles/faith-resources-clobber
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/acc/deuteronomy-22.html
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Transgender - Religious

Deuteronomy 23:1 bans gender affirming surgery

1. This passage is probably overridden if a surgery is necessary. Gender affirming surgery is often necessary and not getting it can be very harmful and lead to suicide. Gender dysphoria is no joke. Also conversion therapy does not work and can't be used as a treatment.
2. Isaiah 56:3-5 and Matthew 19:12 (also affirms intersex people) affirms eunuchs.
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https://www.genderspectrum.org/articles/faith-resources-clobber
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Transgender - Religious

Transgender people perpetuate gender stereotyping

1. This argument can be used against cisgender people too and anyone who conforms to gender roles. The only people who are safe from this argument are gender non-conforming and nonbinary people.
2. You could argue transgender people do more to break down gender stereotyping because of how they defy gender norms.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRQHZcU9ZqU
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Transgender - Non Religious

Biological sex is completely unchangeable

1. This is wrong many parts of biological sex are changeable from genitals to hormones. There is not one perfect signifier of biological sex that is useful, biological sex is better thought of as a collection of traits. This way of thinking is much more useful in a lot of cases and when thinking about gender.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Sex and gender is only your only your chromosomes

We have written a longer article on this. Click here for more information on this topic.

1. After people point out that many biological markers are changeable TERFs fall back to less changeable things. The thing is these things don't matter and by medically transitioning you are removing their importance. They are also invisible to everyone and only relatively recently discovered. Gender existed before then.
2. Chromosomes can be inconsistent.
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https://youtu.be/zRQHZcU9ZqU
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Transgender - Non Religious

People are defined by their AGAB

1. TERFs often say biological sex is more important than gender, but even after people many all meaningful parts of their biological sex TERFs still don't accept that. This shows that some TERFs don't believe in biological sex but believe in AGAB (they don't say this of course or are in denial). This is crazy, TERFs say that they are grounded in reality but AGAB is not reality it's in the past.
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https://youtu.be/zRQHZcU9ZqU
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Transgender - Non Religious

Romans 1:27 says homosexuality is unnatural

1. I'm not as confident writing about bible passages and this one is a bit more complex than the other ones. For information on this verse please read to sources in the description. I might try to write someone on this later. I will still copy some of the affirming interpretations below.

2. "Human sexuality researchers and others who have studied the nature of sexual orientation might reject Paul's belief that homosexuality is beyond the normal. Many religious liberals reject Paul's condemnation of homosexual behavior, particularly when Paul's support for the oppression of women, and his acceptance of slavery as a normal social practice in (Philemon 1:15 to 16) are considered. They might feel that this passage in 1 Romans should be rejected as immoral and outside the will of God, much as other biblical passages are immoral by today's ethical standards and should be ignored including those passages that regulated human slavery, required some hookers to be burned alive, advocated genocide, required victims of rape to marry their rapist, allowed the torture of prisoners, and required the execution of non-virgin brides."

3. "Paul didn't write it as a condemnation of homosexuality, but as a criticism of Greek behavior in temple worship. Greeks often incorporated sexual behavior in temple worship." - J. Nelson

4. "The complete passage describes how a group of Christians left the church, converted to Paganism, and engaged in orgiastic, presumably heterosexual sexual activities. This type of behavior was common among Pagan fertility religions in Rome during Paul's time. Paul writes that, later, God "gave them over" to something new: homosexual behavior. This implies that they had a heterosexual orientation and had engaged only in heterosexual sex throughout their lifetime. God influenced them in some way to engage in homosexual orgies. This was, for them, an unnatural, and thus sinful, activity. Paul criticized them because they were engaged in sexual activity which was unnatural for them. For a person with a heterosexual orientation, homosexual behavior is "shameful," "unnatural," "indecent," and a "perversion." The passage in Romans is not a condemnation of homosexual behavior. Rather, it disapproves of sexual behavior that is against a person's basic nature (i.e. homosexual behaviors by people whose orientation is heterosexual)." - Dr. Swiney

5. "Some question whether the word "perversion" in Verse 27, and "such things" in Verse 30 are related to only certain types of gay and lesbian behavior. e.g.: Homosexual orgies, or Group same-gender sexual practices in a religious setting. This was a common practice among Pagans at the time; e.g. in the temples dedicated to the Goddess Aphrodite. Casual homosexual activities outside of a committed, monogamous two person relationship, or Homosexual molestation between a man and a child. In Paul's day, the child victim was often a slave. These probably were the only forms of same-sex activity that Paul was familiar with. Paul may well have not been thinking of gays and lesbians in committed relationships when he wrote this passage. He never referred to such couples in his writings, and may well have never encountered any during his lifetime. He might simply have been condemning homosexual orgies and other sexual activities outside of a monogamous same-sex relationship."

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https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/sites/157802/themes/2147524360/downloads /Rz7UGT8pQRO0Nr0znfII_Unclobber_One_Page_Cheat_Sheets_v5_March_21_.pdf
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibc5.htm
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Homosexuality - Religious

1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10 bans homosexuality

1. Many other bible passages are considered immoral today and are disregarded.
2. Many translations go with men who have sex with male prostitutes or men who engage in adultery. These would not apply to loving and consenting same-sex relationships.
3. As I'm not as confident writing about bible passages please check out some of the sources in the description for more information.
4. When these sections were made homosexuality was almost always in the context of rape, not consenting relationships.
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http://www.bibleandhomosexuality.org/what-does-the-bible-say-about-homosexuality/
https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/sites/157802/themes/2147524360/downloads /Rz7UGT8pQRO0Nr0znfII_Unclobber_One_Page_Cheat_Sheets_v5_March_21_.pdf
http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/about.php
http://www.religioustolerance.org/imm_bibl.htm
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Homosexuality - Religious

LGBT+ people get "special treatment"

1. No they don't, they are asking for equality. There are many counties where being LGBT+ is illegal and there are many gaps in LGBT+ rights.
2. It's hard to argue that LGBT+ rights give preferential treatment. For example, antidiscrimination laws don't elivate LGBT+ people above others. They just make being LGBT+ a protected class like race and national origin.
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General - Non Religious

TERF is a slur

1. TERF is used when a feminist is being trans-exclusionary. It's used when someone actually someone fits the definition.
2. TERF does have a negative connotation but that is because being trans-exclusionary is negative. If you want to know why to check out the transgender page of arguments.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Women/Gay people become transgender to escape sexism/homophobia

1. Why would someone move from an oppressed group into an even more oppressed group? Being transgender can be dangerous.
2. Transitioning takes a lot of effort and a lot of time. It is very challenging. People don't do it for comparatively small reasons.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Anti discrimination laws attack religious freedom

1. Anti-discrimination protect people of color and almost no one is complaining about that. Protecting LGBT+ people is a logical next step as LGBT+ people can't choose their attributes too.
2. Discrimination against people is different from religious freedom. Discrimination is actually harmful while religious freedom is not.
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General - Religious

Transgender people choose to be trans

1. Transgender kids can know their gender from a very young age.
2. Studies have found that the brains of transgender people more resemble the brains of people of the opposite gender. A study has also found a genetic link. This suggests gender identity has a basis in biology. There is definitely a psychological basis too we just need more research.
3. Rapid onset gender dysphoria is baseless debunked.
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https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/104/2/390/5104458 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/85/5/2034/2660626
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10508-016-0768-5
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20032-transsexual-differences-caught-on-brain-scan/?ignored=irrelevant
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Transgender - Non Religious

Same-sex marriage attacks religious freedom

1. A same-sex marriage is a consenting relationship between 2 people and does not affect religious people at all.
2. For discrimination in general see this argument.
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Homosexuality - Religious

Asexuality does not exist / is not valid

1. Research has shown asexuality is a valid orientation and asexuals don't experience sexual attraction.
2. More specific arguments against asexuals are also incorrect. For example, the view that asexuals should be excluded from the LGBT+ community (ace exclusionism) because they are not oppressed is bad logic. First of all, while some forms of discrimination against asexuals are rare, asexuals still face many struggles. Second, ace exclusionism subverts the idea that the LGBT+ community is an inclusive place for all sexual minorities.
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http://www.asexualexplorations.net/home/extantresearch.html
https://www.asexuality.org/?q=overview.html
https://kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/kinsey-scale.php
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257921632_Asexuality_An_emergent_sexual_orientation
https://www.hrc.org/resources/understanding-the-asexual-community
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Other - Non Religious

Kids are too young to know they are transgender

1. Transgender kids can know their gender from a very young age before knowing what transgender means.
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https://www.hrc.org/resources/transgender-children-and-youth-understanding-the-basics
https://www.chop.edu/news/health-tip/when-do-children-develop-their-gender-identity
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Transgender - Non Religious

Marriage is a holy Christian union

1. Marriage is not an exclusively Christian thing, marriage spans many cultures and was around before Christianity.
2. Marriage can also be civil. Even if you don't support religious same-sex marriage you can support civil same-sex marriage.
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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/if-not-gods-authority-who_b_8090588
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Homosexuality - Religious

Bisexual people are confused

1. Research shows bisexuality is a valid orientation. There is no reason you can't be attracted to more than 1 gender.
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https://kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/kinsey-scale.php
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Other - Non Religious

Transgender people have autogynephilia

1. Autogynephilia is the idea that people transition because they are aroused by the thought of themselves as the other gender. The autogynephilia theory does not line up with what transgender people say. For this theory to be true most transgender people must be lying and with the transgender community having hundreds of thousands of members this is inconceivable. Claiming that all transgender people are lying also makes the theory unfalsifiable by making it impossible to get counterevidence which is very problematic.
2. Transition is a long, hard and expensive process it seems very unlikely that anyone would go through it just because of autogynephilia.
3. We are not saying no one has autogynephilia there are certainly one-off cases. The problem is autogynephilia has not been seen on a wide scale.
4. The medical community agrees that autogynephilia is mostly fake. See the sources for more information on problems with autogynephilia and academic responses to it.
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http://juliaserano.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-real-autogynephilia-deniers.html
https://www.juliaserano.com/av/Serano-CaseAgainstAutogynephilia.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00918369.2010.486241
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Transgender - Non Religious

Pronouns refer to biology

1. Pronouns refer to gender. This is how they are used most often. When people use pronouns they generally go on looks or on people's preferences. Biology is not used often. If we define a word by how people use it pronouns refer to gender.
2. Gender is changeable in most contexts so if pronouns refer to gender which they do you the most accurate thing is to respect them.
3. Using the right pronouns is easy and using the wrong ones is damaging.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Transgender people hurt the military

1. Research shows that transgender people serving in the military does not hurt its effectiveness.
2. Transgender people serving does not cost the military that much. In the US transition-related healthcare is estimated to take up 0.04% to 0.13% of military healthcare expenditures.
3. Transgender people being banned from the military would hurt it by removing people who could strengthen it.
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https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1530.html
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Transgender - Non Religious

There are more important problems in the world to work on than LGBT+ rights

1. Just because there are bigger problems does not mean relatively smaller problems should not be focused on. If we spend all our money on the world's biggest problem the world would be a mess.
2. By this logic anti LGBT+ people should not be working on taking away LGBT+ rights because there are bigger problems in the world.
3. Some people are better at working on certain problems like LGBT+ rights so would make the world better by working on those.
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General - Non Religious

Kids are rushed into transition

1. Kids can't get hormones and surgery at a young age unless in an exceptional circumstance. Generally, hormones are given at 16 and surgery at 18.
2. The only treatment given at a young age is puberty blockers which are mostly reversible.
3. Kids have to go through exams before getting treatment and are overseen by experts so it's hard to say they are rushed.
4. Because questioning, coming out, and seeking treatment can take a long time kids will have a better sense of what they are.
5. Detransition and regret rates are low.
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https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24315505/
https://www.endocrine.org/clinical-practice-guidelines/gender-dysphoria-gender-incongruence#2
https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Web%20Transfer/SOC/Standards%20of%20Care%20V7%20-%202011%20WPATH.pdf
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/in-depth/pubertal-blockers/art-20459075
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Transgender - Non Religious

Gay people molest child more than others

1. Research shows gay people don't molest children at higher rates.
2. A lot of research that claims to show otherwise has been debunked.
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https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2011/10-anti-gay-myths-debunked
https://lgbpsychology.org/html/facts_molestation.html
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Transgender - Non Religious

Conversion therapy works and/or does not harm people

1. Conversion therapy in the context of sexual orientation has been proven to be ineffective. While they said data is somewhat lacking a review from a medical organization found conversion therapy to be ineffective. These results were backed up by a meta-study that analyzed 13 different studies, 12 of the 13 said conversion therapy was ineffective. The 1 study that claimed conversion therapy worked was run on a purely religious sample which could lead to bias such as people repressing feelings or being in denial and it only found the practice was effective in a minority of the participants.
2. While there is less research on the effectiveness of transgender conversion therapy, it's generally regarded as not effective.
3. Conversion therapy is extremely harmful, many studies have found that conversion therapy causes effects like increased suicide rates, depression, and anxiety.
4. Most major medical organizations have condemned conversion therapy and called for a ban.
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https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/therapeutic-response.pdf
https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-whether-conversion-therapy-can-alter-sexual-orientation-without-causing-harm/
https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/SOC%20v7/SOC%20V7_English.pdf
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2789415
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32437277/
https://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/health-and-med-orgs-stmts-on-sex-orientation-and-gender-identity
http://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/National_Orgs_Letter_in_Support_of_Legislative_Efforts_to_End_Conversion_Therapy.pdf
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General - Non Religious

Schools should out LGBT+ students in the name of parental rights

1. In a survey, only 37% of LGBT+ youth said their home was affirming, low support from parents leads to worse mental health, and LGBT+ youth are disproportionately homeless. Outing kids to parents would make these bad problems much worse.
2. Outing a kid to a parent violates the kid's privacy.
3. School staff can sometimes be the only way a LGBT+ student can get support or help, and research has shown supportive school staff can improve the mental health, safety and academic preformance of LGBT+ students. Laws that force school staff to out students would prevent many students from being able to safely access these resources.
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https://www.hrc.org/news/new-report-on-youth-homeless-affirms-that-lgbtq-youth-disproportionately-ex
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/
https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/NSCS19-FullReport-032421-Web_0.pdf
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General - Non Religious

Transgender people should be barred from changing their legal gender

1. Not being able to legally change gender can make many parts of life harder. For example, incorrect identification can be an issue at security check points, at traffic stops or during voting.
2. It's hard to argue that transgender people should not be able to legally change their gender when transgender people can change many of their gender characteristics. If someone identifies as a gender, presents as a gender, medically transitions to that gender, lives life as that gender and everyone knows them as that gender, they should be able to get legal recognition.
3. Incorrect identity documents can out transgender people which can lead to harmful situations.
4. Because the main person being affected by an identification change is that person, changing legal gender is a matter of personal freedom which is another reason it should be allowed.
5. Research has suggested that access to legal gender change improves quality of life and mental health for transgender people.
6. The argument that allowing transgender to change legal gender will allow men access to single-sex spaces for women is flawed. First of all, the process for identity change can often being challenging or take time which would remove incentive or straight up prevent people from abusing the system. Second, having the fake documents won't make much of a difference, it's not like they check IDs outside of bathrooms.
7. The argument that allowing transgender to change legal gender will endanger cisgender women in single-sex spaces is also flawed and is coved here.
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https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32435684/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29520314/
https://transequality.org/issues/voting-rights
https://transequality.org/issues/identity-documents-privacy
https://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/transgender_booklet_-_documents.pdf
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Transgender - Non Religious

Same-sex people can't be married under the Bible

1. In the Bible, procreation is not only purpose of marriage. There were marriages with infertile people in the bible and infertile couples often can get married in a Christian context.
2. Same-sex couples can have children though adoption or surrogacy which would have a similar outcome to procreation.
3. The Bible often focuses on the love and commitment in a marriage which is something same-sex couples can have.
4. Opposite-sex marriage was the only type mentioned in the Bible because it was the most common and the only type of marriage in the ancient world.
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https://reformationproject.org/case/marriage/
https://reformationproject.org/case/gender-complementarity/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt-a0BiAEVs
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Homosexuality - Religious

Gender transition subverts reality

1. An argument against transgender people is that transitioning subverts how someone's body is supposed to be, or their "biological reality" as some people say. However, what someone's body is supposed to be is not a reality, it's a preference placed on them by others. Reality is what something is, not what something is supposed to be. If reality is changed, then the new thing becomes the new reality.
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Transgender - Non Religious

Same-sex intimacy is not allowed under the Bible because it is not procreation

1. Sex can also have a unitive meaning which is often referenced in the Bible.
2. Certain types of sexual acts are condemned in the Bible but those are often in the context of lust, not love and compassion which same-sex couples can have.
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https://reformationproject.org/case/marriage/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt-a0BiAEVs
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Homosexuality - Religious

Transgender athletes and students should be banned from sports

1. Even though there is a difference between the performance of men and women in sports, medical transition reduces this advantage. This advantage would also be decreased for students before puberty.
2. Sports is already inherently unfair and people come in with biological advantages all the time, but this rarely seems to matter. For example Michael Phelps’s body gives him an advantage in swimming and yet we don't ban him. This coupled with the fact we should view transgender people as the gender they are makes it logical that transgender people should be included.
3. For students, competition is not the only thing that comes out of sports. The value of mental health and physical well being can not be understated. Banning transgender students would stop them from being able to access these advantages.
4. Policies that allow transgender people in compete in sports more fairly already exist in schools and athletic groups. The government has no business intruding on those policies.
5. Policies that ban transgender athletes also limit the rights of intersex athletes. This is particularly apparent for bans on transgender student sports, these bans rarely include protections for intersex students so they would effectively be banned from gender segregated sports.
6. Attempts to completely ban transgender people from sports ignore that compromises are possible. For example, things could be handled on a case by case basis. This would be better than a ban because it's inaccurate to paint every transgender person as having an advantage when there are variations in individual preformace.
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https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/15/865
https://www.pinkmantaray.com/resources/transathlete
https://www.scienceabc.com/sports/michael-phelps-height-arms-torso-arm-span-feet-swimming.html
https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/sports-and-mental-health/
https://www.glsen.org/activity/gender-affirming-inclusive-athletics-participation
https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/attacks-on-trans-athletes-are-also-an-attack-on-intersex-people
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Transgender - Non Religious